1. Statement of the Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate to methods, systems, and apparatus for fabricating a non-planar circuit board. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for fabricating a non-planar circuit board comprised of a liquid crystal polymer circuit board material or other thermoplastic polymer material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Within the government communication market, there is an increasing push to further miniaturize systems with the use of chip-scale packages, flip-chip bonding, and other advances over traditional packaging techniques. Beyond simple miniaturization, there is also the desire to integrate circuitry with structure and cosmetic packaging to achieve the ability to incorporate electrical functions within articles having very different form factors from those that traditionally have been used. This goal serves to combine interest in achieving both miniaturization and full integration.
There is also a need for a versatile board substrate technology that provides a reduced dielectric constant over that of conventional board materials, and thereby provides means for improving the density of high radio frequency (RF) circuits. Additionally, for airborne and space applications, there is a need for a light board material that can also play a role in providing mechanical structure.
Liquid crystal polymer (LCP) materials are relatively light, ultra-thin materials that can permanently mold to any shape. LCP materials also have relatively low moisture and oxygen permeability characteristics as compared to conventional circuit board materials. As such, LCP materials are suitable for making thin, multi-layer circuit boards as well as highly detailed, high performance planar circuit boards. LCP materials are also suitable for making three-dimensional (3D) micro-electro-mechanical circuits, LCP materials are further suitable for making circuit boards intended for extreme temperature applications and/or intense radiation applications.